New political boundaries drawn up for Chorley

People in Chorley could see themselves voting in a new ward at the next election after Chorley Council put forward its proposals to re-draw the political map.

The borough is undergoing a review of its electoral boundaries to make sure councillors have a fairer share of residents to represent with the make-up of the borough changing significantly since the last review in 2000.

The proposed changes will see the existing 20 wards replaced by 14 new ones with the aim of making sure boundaries better reflect the different communities in the borough.

Councillor Alistair Bradley, Leader of Chorley Council, said: “A lot has changed in Chorley since the last review and the political map we’ve drawn up is what we feel is the best way of splitting the borough up to best reflect local communities while ensuring councillors have a relatively even number of residents to represent.

“This will hopefully mean that it improves democratic accountability for residents while making it easier for councillors to better represent the voice of their local community.

“Our proposal will now go back to the boundary commission for them to consider and once they’ve published their draft recommendations it will go out to public consultation.”

A decision has already been taken to reduce the number of councillors from 47 to 42 and this latest step is to set out what areas those councillors will represent.

The Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) has decided to split the borough into 14 wards to allow three councillors per ward.

“Once the political map is published for consultation it is really important people have their say because we want to try and keep local communities together in a ward,” said Councillor Bradley.

“The current situation sees communities split across boundaries, which makes it more complicated for councillors to reflect the views of their constituents.

“The changes are due to come into force at the 2020 elections and we are still awaiting clarity from the Government as to whether the 2019 elections will go ahead as normal or be deferred.”

The consultation on the proposed ward boundaries will take place when the LGBCE publish their recommendations on 6 November and will run until 14 January.